He couldn’t date an employee. It was too risky. Especially if it meant something could go wrong and she’d leave him. She was too important to his business.
She smiled at his confession, and her cheeks turned a beautiful pink. Could it be the sexy cheerleader was a bit shy too? He couldn’t let himself think of her as the sexy cheerleader. She was important to keeping his business running smoothly. That was it.
“I should get to bed. I don’t want to miss my flight. I have a lot to do before our trip next week.”
He stood as she did and walked with her to the elevator.
She pushed the three and he pushed the five as an awkward silence fell over them. The elevator was too fast for him to figure out what she could be thinking. He needed more time.
He stepped off on her floor and she looked up at him in surprise. What was he doing? Before he could change his mind, the lightning-fast elevator doors closed.
He watched as she swallowed and stared up at him. God, she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Maybe even more beautiful than Courtney.
Not sure what to do, he reached out to push the button to call the elevator back. But in that second her tongue darted out to wet her bottom lip. Christ.
One moment he was reaching for the button, and the next he was reaching for her. His body moved on its own, pulling her against him. His lips crashed down on hers, causing a little moan from her throat. Her breasts smashed up against his chest as his hand moved down her back. When her lips opened slightly, he pounced on the opportunity, sweeping his tongue inside.
He swallowed down her second moan as his erection throbbed painfully in his jeans. It was only then he registered her hands on his back, fisting his shirt.
A second later, he had her pinned against the wall, deepening the kiss. He couldn’t believe this was happening. How many times had he fantasized about this since she’d walked into his office? Pretty much every hour of every day. And now it was real. He was kissing Kenley.
His employee.
Before he had the chance to pull away, she did. Looking up into his eyes she winced and said, “I’m so sorry.”
He almost laughed, except it wasn’t funny at all.
“Why would you say you’re sorry? You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” he explained.
“I kissed you.”
That time he did laugh.
“I’m almost a foot taller than you. If I hadn’t bent down to kiss you, we wouldn’t have kissed. That makes it my fault.” He ran a palm over his hair. Shit. What did they do now? How badly had he messed it up?
“I’m the one who’s sorry, Kenley. I’m the one who crossed the line.”
“Oh.” She blinked a few times and then looked… He wasn’t sure. His best guess was impressed, though that didn’t make any sense.
“Do you think we could chalk this up to being exhausted, and having a stressful day?” He hoped. “I don’t want things to be awkward. I’ll never let anything like that happen again. I promise.
She pressed her lips together and then nodded.
“I’ll still get to go to the show?”
He smiled and nodded as he pushed the button to call the elevator to her floor. “Yes. Let’s just pretend this didn’t happen.”
Kenley’s fingertips trailed along her bottom lip and for a moment she looked sad. Maybe she didn’t want to forget their kiss? But she’d pulled away.
Smiling at him she said, “What happens on the third floor stays on the third floor?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“No problem. I guess I’ll see you back at the office?”
“Yes.”
“And we’re leaving next Friday?”
Hell. How was he supposed to spend two days with her? He’d promised nothing like this would ever happen again, but already he found himself wanting to pull her back into his arms. He nodded as he stepped onto the elevator.
“Eight a.m.,” he said as the doors closed and he was hurtled up two flights to his own floor. As he stepped into his room he had to fight the urge to turn around and go back to her.
It just couldn’t happen.
* * *
He’d asked her to forget about their kiss. The most amazing kiss she’d ever had in her life. That kiss had been going somewhere, and she’d stupidly pulled away.
At the time, she’d thought maybe she should warn him about her predicament. Surely a guy would expect a certain level of proficiency in skills she didn’t have. Fortunately she’d kept her mouth shut. She could only imagine the look on his face if she’d blurted out, “I’m a virgin!”
Forgetting about the kiss was highly unlikely. In fact, as she got off the plane in New York, that kiss still consumed her thoughts. As she dropped her things off at her house and went in to the office, she found the odds of forgetting the kiss were quite impossible.
She wanted to do it again. And not just kiss him. But he’d promised to keep things professional. Maybe her subconscious had caused her to pull away from him. The part of her brain that liked having its own place, and food in the refrigerator. The part that liked having a job, and being an essential part to Zane’s business.
She hoped that part would give the other part—the one that wanted to kiss her boss again—a good shake.
Zane didn’t come in to the office at all that afternoon. She stayed until six and hadn’t heard anything.
She frowned at her phone. Was he really doing this again? Hiding?
Deciding to do something about it, she sent him a text.
I’m bringing cinnamon rolls in for breakfast tomorrow. How many do you want?
She gathered her things, not expecting to get an answer. To her surprise, her phone chimed a few seconds later.
If I said three would I sound like a pig?
Her smile was huge as she typed a reply.
No. Three it is.
Before she got the door locked he responded.
Thanks. See you in the morning.
Kenley touched her bottom lip, thinking about the kiss. Again.
* * *
Zane was already in the office when she got in the next morning.
“Good morning,” he said with a smile that seemed forced. Something was up.
“Morning.”
“I get three, right?” he asked with a grin as she held out the container.
“You get as many as you want.”
She watched as he took a bite, his lips shiny with cinnamon glaze. How great they would taste right now. The sticky coating smearing between them—She stopped the inappropriate thought before it got out of hand.
“I have something for you,” he said, quickly backing away. She realized she had been staring at his lips the whole time. “I saw it when I left yesterday and I thought of you.” He held out a small velvet box.
Her heart seized, knowing the only thing that came in this type of box was jewelry.
Chapter 8
Zane hadn’t been sure he was going to give her his stupid gift, but he had to do something quickly. She’d been staring at his lips as if she wanted to lick the glaze off him. And he wanted her to. He wanted to throw her over her desk and lick her as well.
His jeans fit uncomfortably as he waited for her to take the box. He was getting used to it by now. It had become a near-constant situation when he was around her.
“It’s to say thank you,” he explained, feeling stupid.
“Really?” Her voice squeaked as she took the box and opened it. “Oh wow!”
He loved her reaction to his gift. She didn’t seem to think it was creepy. She appeared genuinely pleased.
“This is so nice. It’s beautiful.” She was still smiling. “You didn’t have to do this. I was just doing my job.”
“See, I thought about that, but you do more than your job. You act like this is your company, too, and you treat every decision as if it directly affects you. That isn’t your job, but I really appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome. My dad says I have
loyalitis: an inflammation of loyalty.” She laughed and shook her head. “This is really beautiful.”
She looked down at the necklace again. The charm he’d seen at the hotel gift shop was a knot pattern. He didn’t have a large selection to choose from once anything romantic was taken out of the mix, but when he saw the knot he thought it was perfect. It symbolized the way she kept all the loose ends tied up.
He smiled as she freed the necklace from the box and put it on. Seeing his gift settle against her collarbone made his heart twitch, and maybe some of his other parts as well. But that was getting easier to ignore.
* * *
His relationship with Kenley shifted significantly over the next few days. While they never mentioned the kiss, or moved to make it happen again, he could feel the tension growing. They flirted. Casual, friendly flirting. Nothing overtly sexual or inappropriate, just fun. But occasionally he saw her staring at him as if she wanted to take his clothes off. And the few times when she stared at his mouth while licking her lips was almost enough to ruin him and their tentative friendship.
He liked her.
He’d though she was beautiful from the moment he met her. It was the reason he’d tried to keep his distance. He remembered how he’d acted around Courtney. Like a junkie, eager for any bit of attention she would turn his way. But this was different. He knew Kenley as a person. He knew her heart and her mind. And every new thing he learned just made her more perfect.
She was also a kick-ass assistant. He would be lost without her. Everything ran smoothly and his entire workforce was less stressed. As much as he appreciated Sidney and everything she’d done to get his business started, he realized how much tension there used to be, now that it was gone. The constant bickering and struggle for power had worn everyone down. Including them.
One of his happier employees walked in and sat at the bar on Tuesday night.
“So you’re still taking her away on your boat?” Paul asked with a smirk.
“Yes.” Zane hesitated for a second, debating whether or not to talk to them about his issues. Josh was obviously waiting for an explanation. What the hell, why not tell them?
“I’m taking the new girl to a boat show. A work thing.”
“Ah. The new girl,” Josh said with a knowing smile. Zane glanced over at Paul, who was making an effort not to laugh.
“Asshole.”
“What?” Paul said, knowing exactly what.
“The ocean is magical. Be prepared,” Josh warned as he took a sip of his beer.
“I can’t be fooling around with my employees.” He frowned. “Right?” he added when neither of them responded.
“Bree helps me with my business. It’s nice being able to share everything, and for her to understand what I do for a living,” Josh said.
“But you were married before you started your business. Kenley is my employee. What if something goes wrong? It could ruin everything.”
“What if it doesn’t go wrong? It could be great.” Josh was not helping.
“I think she’s into you,” Paul said. “Go for it.”
“You’re supposed to talk me out of doing something stupid,” he scolded them.
“Did you just meet us today?” Paul frowned and shook his head while Josh laughed.
“It won’t matter what you decide,” Josh said. “When you get her alone on the ocean you won’t be able to help yourself.”
Right. The magic. He decided he didn’t want to leave things up to magic. He liked Kenley, and he was definitely getting signals that she liked him too.
Instead of tiptoeing around the issue and hoping for the best, he thought it might be better to address it straight out.
He had a plan when he walked into the office Wednesday morning. It was a big step, but one he felt he was ready to take. He took a deep breath, gathering his courage as he walked down the hall to see her.
Hearing her voice slowed his steps. He didn’t want to bust in there if she had a visitor.
“…none of your business. It was great and of course I’d like to go out with him, but if things don’t work out I’ll end up depressed and eating way too many cookies, like the last time. No, I definitely need to take things slow.” He heard her say. When he didn’t hear a response, he realized she was on the phone.
She was dating someone? And she wanted to take it slow with them? Zane looked down at the silly flowers in his hand. What had he been thinking? His stupid plan was to walk in there, hand over the flowers, tell her he had feelings for her and kiss her until she felt the same way. Get everything out in the open and hope it wouldn’t end up wrecking his business. Instead, he left, throwing the flowers in the dumpster as he went to his truck and backed out.
It was for the best. Nothing good could come from him dating his employee. If something went wrong, she might quit and then were would he be? Yes, this was better.
Not having anywhere else to go, he went to visit his sister. That was a testimony to how desperate he was to stay out of the office.
“I’m glad you stopped by for breakfast, and now lunch, but don’t you have a company to run?” Sidney asked as she put the dishes in the sink and came to sit next to him. She put her feet up as her doctor-husband had ordered.
“I own the company, so I can spend the day with my sister whenever I want to.”
“Please.” She flipped her hand at him, not buying it for a second. “What’s going on?”
He hung his head, knowing if he told her the truth one of two things would happen. She would either give him some wise advice that would help, or she would make fun of him. The more he thought about it, the more likely it was that she would do both things. Making fun of him was a definite either way.
“Kenley is dating someone.”
She was silent for a very long time. So long that he had to look up to see her expression. She was biting the inside of her cheek and looking at the ceiling.
Contemplation. Good. She hadn’t gone right for making fun of him at least.
“I’m going to assume when you say she’s dating someone, you don’t mean she’s dating you since you haven’t grown a set of balls and asked her out.”
Right for the jugular.
“She’s my employee. It would be unprofessional to ask her out.”
“Yes, because hiding out at your sister’s house to avoid her is the epitome of professionalism.”
“What should I do?” He decided to put it out there in the hopes she would cut to the chase.
“Grow some balls and ask her out.”
“Other than that?”
“Let me ask you this: What is the worst possible scenario if you were to ask her out? Like your deepest, darkest nightmare?” She leaned closer, giving his answer her full attention.
“My deepest, darkest nightmare would be if her skin shed off and underneath she was really that clown from It with the teeth.” He mock shivered.
“Okay, so the chances of that happening are slim. What’s the next level?”
“Skin shedding off and she’s Jabba the Hutt?”
“Let’s say her skin stays on and she’s not going to morph into something from an old movie. What are you truly afraid of?”
He took a deep breath.
“The worst thing would be if she said no, and was then so uncomfortable she had to quit and I never saw her again.” He shook his head. “And then her replacement turned out to be Pennywise the Clown.”
Sidney let out a sigh and crossed her arms over her enormous stomach. One thing about his sister, underneath all the ridicule and teasing she did actually take the time to think a problem through and offer valuable insight.
“It’s a risk, Zane. The question is: Is she worth it? You used to watch Courtney from the sidelines and never did anything about it. Are you content to just watch from the sidelines with Kenley?”
“No.” Just the idea of seeing some other guy pick her up to go off on a date made his skin crawl. “But I have no right. I’m her boss.”
“Do you think you’re the first people in the history of the world to have a workplace romance?” She sniffed and shook her head. “It happens all the time.”
“What if I’m reading her wrong and she freaks out that her boss is hitting on her?”
“Do you think she’s into you?”
Zane remembered back to the kiss. She had definitely kissed him back. She had been clinging to him. “And what happens when the workplace romance ends?”
“Who says it has to end?”
He gave her a skeptical look and held out his hands.
“Just because all your other relationships ended doesn’t mean this one will. You’re both adults. Talk to her. Make sure you agree to keep things separate.”
“That sounds great, but I’m already struggling to keep things separate.”
“Then you’re going to have to do something.”
He did need to do something. Get his act together and be her boss. She was seeing someone else. Time to move on and let it go.
* * *
Vanessa wasn’t giving up on getting details about her weekend plans with Zane.
“I told you, it’s business,” she clarified.
“But you’ve waited so long. He’s kissed you, and bought you jewelry. You should just jump him as soon as you get him alone. Let the last time count as your first date so you can get to the good stuff this time. You want to get to the good stuff with him, don’t you?”
“Like I said, I’m taking it slow.”
“You’ve been taking it slow for forever. Come on. This is your chance to live a little.”
“I don’t want to mess it up. He’s my boss. This job is too important to me to throw it all away because my boss is…” She couldn’t think of the right word. Yes, sexy came to mind, but he was other things too. He was kind and sweet. She touched the necklace he’d bought her and remembered the most important thing he was—an employer who valued her. She’d never had that before, and she wasn’t going to risk losing that.
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